


The Clock in the Kitchen is Slow

by hibiren



Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: Drinking, Drunk Driving, Family Issues, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Songfic, Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-27
Updated: 2015-11-27
Packaged: 2018-05-03 14:39:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5295110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hibiren/pseuds/hibiren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joseph has to go to Japan due to a family emergency, leaving Sebastian behind in Krimson for a few days to fend for himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Clock in the Kitchen is Slow

**Author's Note:**

> written while listening to "The Ballad of Love and Hate" by the Avett Brothers, sort of following the plot of the song itself because the first time I heard it I was like it fits joseb so well I have to hhghghgh
> 
> title is borrowed from some lyrics from Ballad of Love and Hate! Such a great line ahh

Sebastian wondered just when Joseph would come back from Japan. He’d gone home a few days ago because his father became very sick and Joseph’s mother needed the emotional support since she was the sort of frail type. With his father ill, his mother did nothing but worry. Of course, Joseph’s father being the stubborn type, insisted he was fine and continued to try and work even in his old age. And another “of course” was that Joseph also needed to go back to Japan to convince his mother to help convince (or rather, drag) his father to the hospital so he could get help for his condition. He had a bad back and was constantly in pain but insisted otherwise. And standing and walking around for up to twelve hours at a time at his business job did the exact opposite of help his situation.

So for now, Sebastian was stuck with all the paperwork he was way behind on, trying to hold his own while drowning in folders and unfinished reports. Just the way he planned on spending the week… they were already behind as it is and with Joseph being the better one at writing this was just not a productive use of his time, trying to figure out the best way to say things when he was already confused a half-hour into his shift.

Suddenly, Sebastian’s phone goes off and he snatches it up off the desk, answering it with a huff.

“Castellanos.”

“Hey, Sebastian,” Joseph said softly into the phone, “I, um, just wanted to see how things were going.”

Sebastian scowled and sat back in his chair. “Don’t you have enough to worry about over there? How’s your dad?”

“Well. He’s—” In the background, Sebastian could hear some irritated grumblings in Japanese, to which Joseph responded with a few quick statements before returning his attention to the phone call. “He’s a bit angry but we finally convinced him to take a few days off to recuperate. He’s convinced he’ll be shunned by his coworkers for missing work, but… That’s just how he is. At least I know he’ll be well taken care of here. Since things have settled down and my parents are doing alright I booked a flight a while ago. I should be back in Krimson tomorrow morning, early.”

“Mh. Great.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then, alright? I have a feeling I have a lot of catching up to do…” Joseph trailed off before muttering under his breath, “ _Aa, omiyage mo mottekitai…demo nani ga ii ka na…_ **”

“Hey, Jo.”

“Hm?”

“Nothing, nevermind.” He rather liked it when Joseph spoke Japanese. Even if he could never understand a word of it, something about the way his partner sounded different was just so alluring. He’d have to tell Joseph that someday, but that could wait for a time when he actually had time to say so. “I’ll… see you tomorrow I guess.”

“Yeah. See you then…” Poor Joseph sounded exhausted, but Sebastian mirrored that. He was trying to focus on work, and on his third cup of coffee at this point. Even if he didn’t sound tired his brain was sending off all sorts of angry letters to each part of his body asking why he’d gone so long without giving them the proper amount of resting time.

They hung up their phones and Sebastian set his back down on the desk. He knew Joseph’s family was a high priority to him, even if everyone was so far away. But he still couldn’t help but think, why did Joseph have to fly halfway across the damn world to force his dad into a doctor’s office? That seemed like a lot of unnecessary money and time on his part, for something that probably took them a day or so to get done. It was selfish of Sebastian to think so, and he knew it, but he was mad at Joseph for giving into his parents, who seemed like they could take care of themselves. Leaving Sebastian behind to deal with all the work and using this as an excuse to get away. That probably wasn’t even close to Joseph’s real reason for going but Sebastian couldn’t focus on anything but his anger and ended up directing it at Joseph anyway. He wasn’t here to tell him otherwise, so this would be the perfect outlet.

So he sat there seething in their office for a good long while, unable to focus on paperwork now, secretly glad to get out most of his negativity before Joseph came back. As pissed off as he was he didn’t want to snap at Joseph the moment he returned to Krimson. That would also come at a later time.

\--

Sometime later, after returning to his father’s house with his mother who was sort of “holding down the fort” until her husband was well again, Joseph gathered all his things and called for a taxi to take him to the airport. It would be a hell of a long flight back to Krimson, and he’d probably be exhausted but Joseph really felt like he needed to go back home. There was work to be done. It was bad enough he had to come all the way here in the first place, but absolutely no one else could convince the man to get help from a hospital. He was too proud to admit he needed help. Which was definitely a major flaw of his.

When the taxi arrived, Joseph said goodbye to his mother, gave her a hug and wished her well before getting into the taxi so he could go to the airport.

Things at the airport went surprisingly smoothly and before Joseph knew it he was heading back home on a flight to Krimson. He had a long time to rest, and due to the time change he figured he should since it was a completely different time of day back home. Joseph was thankful for the window seat, since he could watch the sky until he drifted off as he listened to some music from an old CD player he’d brought with him. Call him old fashioned, but he had more music than he knew what to do with and he couldn’t bear to throw away all of his old CDs. There was quite an extensive stack in a box hidden away, his collection.

Sometime later, Joseph arrived in Krimson, actually on time. He had no difficulty finding his way through the familiar airport, grabbing his bags and things before hailing another taxi and asking him to drive to Sebastian’s apartment. It was still somewhat early in the night and Joseph knew Sebastian never went to bed before 4 a.m. on weekends like today. Which was horrible, given their hectic schedule, but it was just how Sebastian lived. Fueled by frequent short naps, alcohol, and caffeine. What a life…

Surprisingly enough, Sebastian wasn’t home when Joseph arrived at midnight. He wondered where he could be. He figured he might have gone out for a late night drive, as he sometimes did, and simply let himself in to Sebastian’s apartment, using the spare key he kept with his own, and sat down on the couch to wait for Sebastian to come home. He did a bit of straightening up while he was there since he had nothing else better to do. He picked up a few bits of trash that were scattered across the floor by the couch and dropped them into the kitchen trash can. He caught sight of the clock on the stove and frowned. 2:55? Was it really that early? That clock must be slow. Joseph had definitely gotten sidetracked in his cleaning, only stopping when he realized it was 3 in the morning. When Joseph set his mind to cleaning he really got into it. Also having that much time with nothing else to do but wait, he decided he’d do something relatively productive. He’d have to let Sebastian know about that clock, though…

\--

Sebastian didn’t manage to get anywhere with his work so he just left at the end of his shift. He’d deal with it all later, on another day. When he could think clearly. But for now, he needed to get out of the offices. It was too cluttered, too noisy, and he didn’t have Joseph there to help him. So Sebastian kept to himself, not bothering to say anything to anyone but watched them with a weary gaze as he got in his car and headed home. He could really use some of that good whiskey right now…

The bar he passed on the way home would have to do for now. He couldn’t wait. Sebastian walked inside and slumped down on a barstool, taking out a few folded up dollar bills from his wallet because god knows once he started drinking he probably wouldn’t remember where he put the stupid things. As soon as he had that glass of whiskey in his hand, he felt much better. Even more so when he took a sip and felt the strong burning of alcohol in his throat. It was good, a familiar thing to keep his mind off of everything that had happened. And Joseph wasn’t there, to nag at him and tell him not to drink after work because it “wasn’t good for him.” Well, he had a whole night to himself at this point. Better to take advantage of it.

After Sebastian finished a glass he was already feeling it. Today was not a good day for him. But he insisted on forcing himself to drink until he didn’t feel like everything was trying to pressure him into everything. Sometimes, days like today were just too much. But the whiskey definitely helped, even as he staggered out the door and decided to go home. Against his better judgement—very against his better judgement—he drove himself home. But he drove carefully, as carefully as one can when somewhat intoxicated, and made it home in one piece. The concrete sidewalk in front of his parking space at the apartment suffered some battle damage but that would be realized another time.

When Sebastian staggered up to his apartment and opened the door he was very surprised to see Joseph standing in the hallway. He must’ve been waiting… all that time, while Sebastian was out being stupid.

“Oh. Joseph.” Sebastian mumbled. Joseph went over to him and looked him over, realizing how exhausted he looked and then detecting the slight slur to his speech. He decided not to get too worked up over the fact that he still had his keys clutched in his hand and was terrible at hiding his obvious drunkenness. There would be a better time to get angry. Not now, when Sebastian seemed at his lowest. All he could do now that would be somewhat helpful would be to be supportive. After being gone for so long it was the least he could do.

“Hey, Seb. You doing alright?” Joseph asked as he helped Sebastian over to his couch. Sebastian nodded slowly and while Joseph went to go get him a glass of water he unzipped his bag and pulled out the small pendant he’d gotten for Sebastian on his last day in Japan. It was an omamori, a Shinto charm, one that he figured was a fitting present. This particular omamori was one for prosperity and good luck.

When Joseph returned to the living room he set the glass of water on a coaster on the side table and Sebastian took it, lethargically taking a sip and making a face before setting it back down.

“Sebastian, I, um… I got you something.”

“Aw, Joseph, you shouldn’t have,” Sebastian said with a half-chuckle. “What’d you get?” he then asked after a moment, his curiosity getting the better of him.

Joseph held out the charm and Sebastian took it, looked at it, and frowned. “What is it?”

“An omamori, Seb. It’s sort of like a good luck charm. If you keep it with you it’ll bring you good luck. You could wear it as a necklace or keep it on a keychain…”

“Good luck, huh?” Sebastian eyed the pendant again and shrugged. “Well, thanks… It’s… pretty nice.”

Smiling, Joseph sat down on the couch next to Sebastian and leaned his head on Sebastian’s shoulder. “I’m glad to be home, you know. I… I’m sorry for leaving you like that. I didn’t really have a choice…”

“I know, it’s family business and whatnot. Don’t worry about it. Shit happens.”

“Yeah…”

“You can make it up to me tomorrow, how about that? Tomorrow’s Sunday. We don’t have to work… let’s go somewhere.” Sebastian leaned his own head down against Joseph's.

After pondering the idea for a moment, Joseph nodded. “Sure, why not?”

“I’ve got all the luck in the world on my side now. Thanks, Joseph…” Sebastian smiled before nearly immediately dozing off against his partner. Joseph smiled in reply and muttered a soft “you’re welcome” before curling up next to Sebastian on the couch, sharing his warmth with the other man since he didn’t want to get up and get a blanket, or he’d risk waking up Sebastian again. For now they’d sit like that, and it didn’t bother Joseph at all. He was happy to be home, and happy Sebastian was safe. Even if he’d been rather reckless and Joseph couldn’t do much about it, now that he was back home he could keep an eye on his partner and hope for the best. Things would go back to somewhat normal soon.

**Author's Note:**

> **T/n for the little Japanese Joseph mutterings: "I also want to bring him a souvenir, but I wonder what would be good...?"**


End file.
